drowning

Drowning

A rock is bound to my heart,
And a million tiny drops
Crush me with the gravity of grief.
Memories rush into the cavities
Designed for breath,
And with a gurgling surge
Choke out every last
Molecule of life.
My writhing body
Claws feebly,
In vain attempts to reach
Above the surging waves,
And at last goes still-
At rest in an ocean of pain.

The Gift

I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with this draft yet. I think its lacking something, but I need to let it soak into me for a while before I'm sure what exactly is bothering me. Anyway, here it is:

I met Sorrow
As She came along the narrow, twisted path,
Arms wide, waiting to receive me.
Her hands gripped me,
Forced me headlong
Down the path I didn’t want to go.
I closed my eyes
And ran, ran from the horror
Of cold reality.
From the misery of facing
The long, hard road
With Sorrow alone my guide.

I met Joy when she fell in step beside me
And grasped my bruised and gritty hand.
She too gripped me,
Led me down the path
I could not bear to see.
In vain I struggled to be free
Of this strange twin
To my own grief,
This apparition whose,
Raw strength was forever coupled
With my breaking.

Gifted as I was with Sorrow and with Joy,
A bitter blessing
To have been bequeathed,
A double vision I beheld-
I saw such Glory -new to me,
And Beauty -to my soul revealed.
And last, I came upon a Friend-
Pierced with both my blessings-
Whose face was Gift enough for me
And his Peace, beyond all telling.

planted

I hear the gulls crying anxiously.
Hurry, hurry,
Join the rush of wind and sky and sea.
The waves beckon
And I yearn to be free,
Free of the cage
Binding me to sand,
The gravity flowing in my veins,
Pulsing in my tissues.
But I alone
Am planted in the earth;
I alone am formed of dust.
I alone have sought what I could not have.
And so the horizon grows ever fainter,
As the one who was made for sky and sea
Is folded deeper in the earth